Forensic Accounting: Student explores new sector of accounting

Since the fall of 2010, Brittany Nimal, a senior forensic accounting major at Waynesburg University, has served as a student worker in the University’s business office. There, she completes the bank reconciliations each month and maintains and updates spreadsheets pertaining to different accounts in the office.

“Brittany has proven herself over the past three years as a very dependable and highly driven person,” said Laura Cross, a senior accountant at Waynesburg University and a member of the University’s business office. “She is someone we can always count on. She has always utilized her time in the office to take a genuine interest in learning as much as she can to help prepare for her future.”

During her hours in the business office, Nimal accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience, making her search for a summer 2013 internship that much easier. When she came across a recruitment table in the campus student union in the spring of 2013, Nimal knew her experience would stand out.

She spoke with a representative from the Bureau of Prisons, who, impressed with Nimal’s hands-on experience, encouraged her to contact the Business Office Supervisor at the Morgantown, W.Va., Institute. Nimal scheduled an interview and shared her highly developed skill set with her soon-to-be supervisor at the Federal Bureau of Prisons Federal Correctional Institute Morgantown.

“Brittany was our first student from Waynesburg University; we were impressed with her skill and knowledge base,” said Pam Miller, Nimal’s internship supervisor at FCI Morgantown. “She is obviously very intelligent, but her professionalism is her most outstanding quality. Everyone who met and worked with her was impressed with her kind attitude, genuine willingness to learn and professional etiquette.”

At the correctional institute, Nimal completed audit reviews, verifying questions about different areas and operations within the organization.

“I wanted experience in a different area of my field to help me decide which path I may want to pursue later,” Nimal said.

According to Miller, Nimal’s greatest accomplishment was handling the components of a new sector of accounting with grace and competence.

“Brittany was exposed to different components of accounting; thus, giving her a broader perspective of opportunities available within the government,” Miller said. “Hopefully, this introduction to the diverse accounting modules will help her make sound career choices and aid her in discovering areas that are most interesting to her.”

Though she was initially nervous about working in an unfamiliar division of finance, Nimal said that her studies helped prepare her for experiences and situations she could encounter in a correctional environment.

“Waynesburg has helped me to appreciate the experience and take advantage of all the opportunities I received,” Nimal said. “I made great connections by being at FCI Morgantown, and I now have federal connections that can help me get a job or lend advice later down the road.”